The praise has been pouring in. And deservedly so. He was a genius. A man that made a tremendous impact on the world. During the week, I probably read thirty or forty blogs and columns about his life and accomplishments. I even wrote a little homage to him myself in the Huffington Post. But I wasn’t learning as much about him as I had hoped. Sure, I learned about his story, his rise with Apple, the “wilderness years,” his triumphant return, the iProducts. But I wasn’t learning much about Steve Jobs the person. The boss.

That is until I read this great piece from Ryan Tate. And I really began to learn something about Steve Jobs. Jobs wasn’t successful just because he was creative, brilliant and hardworking. There are a lot of creative, brilliant and hardworking people running technology businesses. Jobs had an extra little something going on that further separated him from his peers: He was a jerk. Good for him.

I am not creative or brilliant. I work hard. But I like my vacations, my time watching my kids play sports, the odd nap on a Sunday afternoon too. I don’t think I’m anywhere near as hard a worker as Jobs was. And I’m not a jerk like Jobs was. Which is the biggest reason why I’m just a moderately successful business guy, and not a super billionaire. That’s because being creative and hard working isn’t that uncommon. Being a jerk is.

Tate says that Jobs exercised censorship and authoritarianism. To put anything on an Apple device you needed Apple’s permission. “Apple’s devices have connected us to a world full of information,” he writes. “But they don’t permit a full expression of ideas. Indeed the people Apple supposedly serves – the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers – have been particularly put out by Jobs’ lockdown.”

Jobs wasn’t about to let anyone use his products for activities that would negatively reflect on his company. He knew the risks of giving up control. He knew that people would accuse him of restricting free expression. He didn’t care. He was a jerk. My products are misused all the time. I have clients turning off internal controls, resetting security and converting contact management databases into inventory systems because it’s cheaper than buying a true inventory system. Because I’m not a jerk I say nothing. I just take the money. And in just about every case, these same clients have turned into non-clients. Because they inevitably ran into security and operational issues that turned their investment into a loss. And blamed me. I’ll never be as brilliant as Steve Jobs. But if I were to exercise a little more control over how our products are used (in other words: be a jerk more often) I may be a tad more successful.

“Inside Apple,” Tate continues, “there is a culture of fear and control around communication: Apple’s “Worldwide Loyalty Team” specializes in hunting down leakers, confiscating mobile phones and searching computers. In the creepiest example of Apple’s fascist tendencies, two of Apple’s private security agents searched the home of a San Francisco man and threatened him and his family with immigration trouble as part of a scramble for a missing iPhone prototype.” Wow, the Apple Gestapo. I love that too.